Bodies for Profit and Power: Science Fiction Biopolitics in Bloomington, MN

Early dystopian science fiction like George Orwell's
1984
or Thea von Harbou's
Metropolis
show us bleak worlds where capitalism has no boundaries and has corrupted sovereign powers, exploiting the lower classes and benefiting only a few at the top. Political laws and policies related to human life—or the biopolitical—devalue that life, making humanity little more than expendable "machines" producing for capitalism, and capitalism's focus on progress has made it a central concern in much of science fiction. Covering science fiction from the early 1900s to present, this book examines the portrayal of dystopian capitalism and the biopolitical in works like
Brave New World
and
R.U.R.
, among many others.